Dear Hollywood, here are 5 foundresses to present in the place of Elizabeth Holmes – TechCrunch

There is an apparently insatiable demand for Theranos content. John Carrerou's best-seller book, Bad blood has already inspired an HBO documentary, L & # 39; inventor, an ABC podcast called The stall, a limited series of prestige with SNLKate McKinnon has just been announced and Jennifer Lawrence is about to play in the feature-length version of this lugubrious tale "The real crime meets technology". This is what needs to be done before tackling the diverse and varied coverage stories and thinking about it.

I think it is fair to say that Theranos' story has been sufficiently documented and I fear that this negative perception can not be reinforced now that UBiome founder Jessica Richman has been put on administrative leave. While it is difficult to miss out on a chance to get the start-up's attention, perhaps we could focus less on these rare, unrepresentative and discouraging examples. Hollywood could instead draw attention to women who have been pioneers in cutting-edge technology and who have generated billion-dollar success. Here are some candidates ready for their close-ups:

Judith Faulkner, Founder and CEO, Epic Systems

Judith Faulkner – Founder / CEO, Epic Systems

In the late 1970s, a woman working in Wisconsin was likely to be Laverne or Shirley. Nobody knew that in the basement of a Victorian mansion in Madison, the future of healthcare was coded by Judith Faulkner, founder and general manager of what would become Epic Systems. Epic is arguably the most impactful startup in the history of health software, and Faulkner was building medical planning software even before most people could imagine a PC. His efforts led to the creation of the electronic health record market as we know it, and today his company manages files for more than 200 million people, employs nearly 10,000 people and generates approximately $ 2.7 billion. dollars of income per year, which is not bad for a math graduate who has never created a business. Capital city.

One might argue that medical software is too lukewarm to make television exciting, but something tells me that the type of CEO who hires Disney alums to design his campus and dress up as a wizard for his address to his employees subject.

Santa Barbara, CA – Feb 09: Lynda Weinman speaks on stage (Photo by Rebecca Sapp / Getty Images for SBIFF)

Lynda Weinman – Founder / CEO, Lynda.com

Lynda Weinman may well have the most esoteric path to becoming a billion-dollar entrepreneur in history. After graduating from Evergreen College, where she was a clbadmate with Simpsons Matt Groenig, creator of Lynda, Lynda opened two punk rock fashion boutiques on the LA Sunset Strip.

After those who went to bed in the early 1980s, she taught herself enough computer graphics to become an independent animator in films like The excellent adventure of Bill & Ted, which led her to become a teacher at the prestigious Art Center College of Design. His university pedigree allowed him to write an influential textbook, which gave him the power to become one of the first celebrities on the Web.

Keep in mind; this dramatic arc only covers time before she launched Lynda.com, her eponymous name, and hindered her to a $ 1.5 billion exit from EdTech – a sector that most venture capital firms and businesses entrepreneurs are afraid to follow. As for the memoirs, Hannah Horvath is not Lynda Weinman.

FRAMINGHAM, MA – MAY 30: Shira Goodman, former CEO of Staples, poses for a portrait in Framingham, MA, on May 30, 2017. (Photo by Suzanne Kreiter / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Shira Goodman – CEO, Staples.com

Shira Goodman has probably done more for online shopping in the US than anyone else does not call Bezos. She did not find Staples, but she started and expanded her "delivery business," as she humbly calls it, to become the 4th largest e-commerce company in the United States.

At a time when more agile startups were disrupting big box stores, Shira did what few of its contemporaries could do: quickly transfer a multi-billion dollar heritage company into an old industry into the future and eventually become CEO of any l & # 39; company. She did so while raising three children and supporting her husband when he decided to change careers and go to rabbinic school. Sitcoms rely on less, and since two versions of Office captivating audiences, perhaps it's time to present the views of the CEO of Dunder-Mifflin Headquarters?

Helen Greiner, co-founder of iRobot

Helen Greiner – Co-Founder, iRobot

From C. A. Rotwang to Metropolis For Tony Stark in the Marvel movies, there have been many cinematic explorations of robot builders, but the story of iRobot co-founder, Helen Greiner, might be more interesting than anything that has ever been made for celluloid. As a recent graduate of MIT, Greiner spent much of the 1990s applying his mechanical engineering to everything from Disney's mechatronic dinosaur to a shop cleaning robot that could destroy SC Johnson mbadively.

Far from being an ivory tower scholar, Grenier helped the government conduct search and rescue efforts at Ground Zero after September 11th, stirring the caves in Afghanistan, and the Packbot company that got rid of of the bomb saved the lives of thousands of soldiers. Grenier, 38, made her company public and embodied the vision of Jetson, a robotic housekeeper, in the form of Roomba.

CAMBRIDGE, MA – MARCH 15: Kelsey Wirth, who has a grbadroots organization called Mothers Out Front: mobilizing for a livable climate (Photo by Essdras M Suarez / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Kelsey Wirth – Co-Founder of Align Technologies

While startups initiated the tech bubble in the late 1990s, Kelsey Wirth Pioneering the 3-D print, which at the time was as fantastic as anything Theranos promised. Wirth's story as co-founder of Align Technology is particularly compelling as it shares some superficial similarities with Holmes' story. Invisalign's main doubters cast doubt on the company's early days, pointing out that the startup's PR had exceeded its clinical validation. Wirth had to solve seemingly intractable technical problems, such as scanning misaligned incisors, developing algorithms to overcome underbites, developing a new manufacturing process, convincing the FDA to clean the product, and then selling it across the country. – only with a degree in English and an MBA. Despite the long-term likelihood of cross-linking with software, Wirth launched what has become a publicly traded company worth more than $ 20 billion.

Most of these founders have experienced setbacks, including external obstacles and their own doing. There were layoffs, bad business and few of these stories had a perfect end. Yet, even though a contemporary start-up can boast of simply repackaging the CBD and spreading it on Facebook, these entrepreneurs have demonstrated a level of ambition rarely seen among modern beginners.

The sensational attention given to Elizabeth Holmes mischiefs steal the attention of a group of women's iconic business leaders and spoil a tremendous opportunity to inspire the next generation with heroic tales rather than fables of fabrication. None of these narratives have the black and white morality of the Theranos debacle, but these founders have overcome scientific and social obstacles. They reversed the script and did the story. Hollywood can certainly find a drama in that.

Thanks to Parul Singh, Elizabeth Condon and Alyssa Rosenzweig for reviewing the drafts of this message.